Ballon d’Or hopeful: “I don’t need trophies, I know I am the best!”

Like many of the world’s elite sportsmen, it seems that Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not the greatest loser.

While he may have made the shortlist for the prestigious Ballon d’Or – that’s the ‘Ronaldo v Messi contest’ to you and me – Ibrahimovic is unlikely to win the prize despite being arguably the best striker in the world right now.

Not that that bothers Ibrahimovic. The Paris Saint-Germain is still dead certain that he is the world’s best – and he doesn’t need a trophy to prove it. So there.

“It's not something I think about and it is something that is not important for me,” Ibrahimovic this week. “I do not need to win this trophy to know I am the best.”

In fairness to Ibrahimovic, you do have to see his point. The 32-year-old forward was on target again for PSG against Olympiakos in the Champions League last night, taking his tally in the competition to eight goals.

That equalled the record held jointly by Ronaldo, Filippo Inzaghi, Hernan Crespo and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

He now has 21 goals for the season, including 18 in his last 12.

Impressive stats – almost as impressive as his ego, which looks like it could take on the rest of Europe all by itself, and win.

This is, after all, the man who said last week when Sweden missed out on the World Cup (thanks to Ronaldo): “A World Cup without me is nothing to watch so it’s not worthwhile to wait for the World Cup.”

Why watch the World Cup when you can spend the summer looking at your own reflection, eh Zlatan?